Tag Archives: julianne moore

I have been meaning to see this movie for a little while now. I finally just got around to doing it this past Sunday with a couple buddies of mine. I saw Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno a few weeks before and he discussed the movie a little bit and it made me only want to see it more.

What You’ll Need to Know:
This movie is all about sex. Go into it expecting that. It will definitely push the boundaries between what is R and what may even be considered NC-17. With that being said, go into it with an open mind. I mind it quite funny actually.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt:
Ever since Inception I think he has been doing a great job in the movies he has played. He is a really good actor and I really like the character he plays in this movie. A character that: masturbates constantly, has anger issues (especially when in his car), works out constantly, is always on the hunt for someone new to have sex with, but still upholds good morals in going to church every Sunday and repenting his sins.

He is driven by the fact that his co-actor (or actress in this case), Scarlett Johanson, is the one girl who he can’t hook up with on the first night. So he brings out his “long game” as it’s said and eventually swooes her into sleeping with him but only after first getting into a serious relationship.

Now with any romance movie you can kind of smell the ending coming. Well, I could here especially when he randomly meets a new (but older) woman during class. There is a shift in Levitt’s psychology when he realizes that Johannson is practically not really caring about him and just using him to get her ways.

I won’t spoil the whole movie for you so I’ll leave some of the things out but I think this movie really does a good job at sorting in the dichotomy of a male-female relationship. Men go into relationships with a more care-free attitude and woman want to be treated well and not lied to (which is definitely respectable). The issue this movie raises is when does that “lie” become something like Everest (near impossible) or a plausible idea. For Levitt the straw breaking the camels back (for lack of a better phrase) is something he can’t live without–masturbation. In fact, this whole movie discusses the role that masturbation plays in mens’ lives and shows how a female tends to view it (or at least Johansson who is a Catholic in the movie).

More over, it shows a man’s growing and learning to know what is truly important in his life. What he is willing to fight for and what isn’t. It shows that having the ideal model and trophy-life may not be necessary if, in doing so, you are giving up a part of who you truly are. I am sure this is an issue that many couples can relate to in America and actually all over the world and it goes back to “settling” or being “truly happy”. In fact, this is symbolized by Levitt’s character doing the exact same thing throughout the whole movie and walking into the gym the same way every single time until the very end where he doesn’t go to the gym but, instead, goes to play basketball. Very clever by the directors.

I truly enjoyed this movie and thought it was pretty funny. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. The actors and actresses was great. Analyzing this movie is so fresh and original, however, it loses that 1 of those 5 stars because I felt like the plane that took off when the movie started never quite landed on the runway.